A Twitter row between prominent TV football pundit Gary Lineker and his BBC colleague Jonathan Agnew, a respected cricket commentator, has prompted the broadcaster to clarify rules for presenters amid the bitter Brexit debate.
Former England striker Lineker – who is the BBC’s highest-paid on-air star on a reported £1.75 million ($2.2 million) for 2017-18 – is a prominent face on sports broadcasts, including the popular ‘Match of the Day’ show.
He is also a frequent and vocal critic of the UK’s Brexit plans, consistently calling for a second referendum.
He recently lamented “the absolute state” of politics in Britain in a particularly scathing post to his 7.17 million followers.
That, however, appears to have tipped fellow sports pundit Agnew to question whether it was appropriate for such a prominent BBC figure to express clear political views when the organization itself is meant to be staunchly neutral.
Agnew, 58, is seen as something of a cricketing institution and is the voice of the sport for many in the UK.
He claimed he would be “sacked” if he expressed his political views in a similar fashion to Lineker.
The former footballer, 58, was quick to respond by addressing Agnew directly:"I'm the face of my Twitter account. I’ll continue to tweet what I like and if folk disagree with me then so be it."
With the Twitter war raging and social media users coming out in support of both sides, the BBC itself has clarified its policy on presenters and expressing political views – listing what is allowed and what isn’t for “BBC staff and freelancers who work for BBC News and Current Affairs.”
The list includes refraining from publicly stating how staff have voted and expressing a view “for or against any policy which is a matter of current party political debate.”
Crucially, however, it adds that Lineker is not subject to those rules as he is a sports presenter.
"Gary is not involved in any news or political output for the BBC and as such, any expression of his personal political views does not affect the BBC's impartiality," a BBC spokesperson added.
It has also previously identified Lineker – who also works for BT's sports channel – as "a freelance broadcaster" with a purely personal Twitter account.
Also on rt.com Brexit battle lines: England legends Gary Lineker & Peter Shilton clash on TwitterLineker clearly felt exonerated, attaching a link to the BBC article and writing: “Oh dear, looks like I don’t need to stick to football. My deepest apologies in advance.”
Agnew - who is affectionately known as 'Aggers' by cricket fans and players - was listed as a BBC freelancer in the article, but has nonetheless insisted that he would not get away with overtly political tweets.
The cricket pundit did later add some humor to the mix, posting a picture to his 440,000 followers of his car covered in bird droppings and joking: “Has Gary Lineker found my car?”
Perhaps summing up the level to which the Brexit debate has sunk, Lineker simply replied: “Shat on car.”